This can't be it...

[Glider]

Nice one, I can see dust lanes, you have defo improved, keep at it.

[davo]

I hear M31 is a nightmare to image but you have done a superb job already. Hats off to you. I'm no imaging guru but with your efforts a different target would be amazinig :-)

[Ian_A]

There's n o way i'll be able to try DS yet, i've no tracking system on the EQ5..

however, out of interest, it was mentioned about mounting the Nikon (mine's a coolpix8700..i think non DSLR), What lens would you recommend ? And what f stop is best (lower?)

[pvaz]

There's n o way i'll be able to try DS yet, i've no tracking system on the EQ5..

however, out of interest, it was mentioned about mounting the Nikon (mine's a coolpix8700..i think non DSLR), What lens would you recommend ? And what f stop is best (lower?)

For quality shots you need to remove the lens and use the scope as a lens. That's why it gets hard to get the right focus as it needs to be manual using the scope's focuser. Some scopes are not meant for photography and the focuser won't have enough in travel to reach focus on the camera. If thats the case you may have to replace the focuser (not cheap).

You can however use the mount as a "tracking tripod" and put the camera directly on it with a regular lens. That way you'll get nice wide-field pics (showing the milky way or the entire Orion constellation, etc) and it will be less fussy on tracking. It will also allow you to study post processing and that will be useful later on when you add a scope to the setup.